Spring (!?) Cleaning at the Carolina Bed & Breakfast

>Winter is traditionally the time of year when Innkeepers in Asheville close their inns for cleaning and refurnishing of rooms. And not surprisingly, we are among them.

Of course in our eyes, (or at least mine), the need was greater than just a once yearly spring cleaning. When we bought the Carolina Bed & Breakfast in Asheville, NC in September of 2009 there was a lot which needed to be done. On top of the kitchen remodel, all of the downstairs reception rooms needed painting and much of the furniture needed recovering or replacement. James and I worked pretty steadily from January until the end of March last year just to get things up to a reasonable standard.

But you know how it is: while the casual observer may not have noticed the little dings and scratches, I noticed them every day.

Every time I showed a guest up the stairs I saw the scuff marks on the risers and walls. Every time I cleaned the Robin’s Nest and the Goldfinch Rooms I thought how much better they would be if the floors could be uncovered and the aging wall-to-wall carpeting removed. And every time I looked at the Hummingbird bathroom I noticed how badly it needed repainting (and re-wallpapering).

So last week we closed and set to work. It got pretty messy in here for a while, especially while the floors in the bedrooms were being redone. We even set a friend of ours who was here visiting from Ireland to work painting and scraping. Here is the refinished Hummingbird Bathroom. It is not too much changed from before (although we were unable to find wallpaper to match the hummingbird one that was originally there), but it looks so lovely!

We also painted the stairwell. It’s still a light yellow, just a slightly lighter tone and the risers have been repainted in a cream color. After we finished that we gave the floors a hard polish.

For two nights we slept in the Cottage while they dried.

But it was worth it! The hall just gleams and I am so happy not to be looking at black marks on the stairs.

Finally, the bedrooms: the heart pine floor in the Robin’s Nest is difficult to get a picture of because the room, and the carpet, is so large. We had a small dilemma when we first took up the carpet as it appears that a hall once connected the Robin’s Nest and the Goldfinch and some of the floor boards are going different directions.

After much discussion we decided it adds character to the room and left it as is.

We also bought a large Chinese carpet for the room in keeping with the Asian theme. And while you can’t see it in these pictures, the hardwood floor goes right into the dressing room and bathroom.

Last to be refinished was the Goldfinch. Now that we have the floors done, James and I are looking for a King-sized bed to put in the room. This is harder than you would think as the transom window precludes anything with too tall a headboard. In addition we are looking for a light color wood and somehow we haven’t found exactly the right combination yet. But the room looks better already and we are confident the right bed can be found.

So we have re-opened our doors and we are looking forward to welcoming our guests to the Carolina Bed & Breakfast in all her glory!